Cepsa expects Indonesian chemical JV to start up this year -exec

ABU DHABI May 9 (Reuters) - The chemicals unit of Spanish
energy firm Cepsa expects to start up its Indonesian joint
venture by the end of this year, with exports due to commence in
2017, a senior company official said on Monday.

Cepsa Quimica is building a plant to produce fatty alcohols
in Sumatra in a 50/50 joint venture with Golden Agri-Resources
Ltd (GAR), the world's second-largest palm oil plantation
company.

Fatty alcohols are derived from natural fats and oils and
are turned into products including detergents, soaps and
cosmetics.

"We are targeting to produce 75 percent of capacity
initially after commissioning by end of the year but it also
depends on the markets," Jose Manuel Martinez, chief executive
of Cepsa Quimica, told Reuters at a petrochemicals event in Abu
Dhabi.

The emirate is home to International Petroleum Investment
Co. (IPIC), which fully owns Cepsa.

When fully operational, capacity at the plant was expected
to be 160,000 tonnes per annum of fatty alcohols, he said,
adding it was aiming to export to markets around the world.

The chemicals unit of Cepsa, Spain's fourth-largest
industrial group, accounts for 40 percent of the group's
revenue. It has manufacturing facilities in Spain, China, Canada
and Brazil.

Cepsa also plans to expand output at its Salvador de Bahia
facility in Brazil to 260,000 tonnes per annum from the current
220,000 tpa before end-2016, Martinez added.

The Spanish firm has partnered with Brazil's Deten to
produce at the facility linear alkylbenzene (LAB), which can be
used in the production of detergents, paints and cosmetics.

(Reporting by Stanley Carvalho; Editing by David French and
David Evans)